Marseille knifeman was 'petty criminal who used several aliases'

Senior French public prosecutor François Molins said the knife-wielding man who murdered two young women outside the central train station in Marseille on Sunday before being shot dead by patrolling soldiers in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group was of North African origin who used several false identities, and was released by police in Lyon on Saturday after his arrest for suspected shoplifting.

A suspected jihadist who stabbed two young women to death at Marseille's main train station had used several aliases and was a known petty criminal according to French police and officials, reports BBC News.